New guy with interest in Timeshare

removed due to spam

Sounds like a great concept

the problem would be trusting that this company that you are giving $$$ to will be here to furnish you the next 5 years worth of air tixs. I wouldn't want to give any airline 5 years advance funds, let alone a stand alone company.

Also most timeshares aren't going to be fixed weeks in the same location , most are floating, or if fixed used to trade to other areas, so even though we have a pretty good idea of where were going for the next 2 to 3 years, we can't make reservations until 12 to 18 months in advance, making a 5 year commitment unworkable.

Jmho, Greg

I wonder why your travel agent is willing to give up airline booking fees by giving you an alternative web site to purchase tickets? Your post has the smell of SPAM and I personally will put you down as a SHILL.

More like my travel agent said that they have the exclusive right to selling me this package if i would be a new timeshare owner. That i can't buy from this website, but i would rather be buying from them. So her commissions are still there i guess. She referred me to the website to read up about it, because i told her i want to get all the information i possibly could
Chad

p.s. thanks for looking out for me though

I agree with copper.

http://www.timeshareforums.com/foru...29898-new-timeshare-product-intellifares.html

Looks like you two have the same travel agent. What a coincidence! Two first time posters asking about the same company!

SHILL, SHILL, SHILL :annoyed:

In my opinion any company that resorts to these tactics can not be trusted.

Jeez all that is missing is the first grade pigeon English to make this the complete Spam package

Ok...I did not ban Chad, but I sent him a friendly warning...

TUG got attacked this afternoon by a spammer named "stunt213" posting the same LONG spam ad in many forums.

At least Chad was much more subtile...thanks fellow TUGGers for the good eye.

You can always hit the "report as a problem post" warning icon under his name. But I find it more fun to watch you guys tear him apart (...in a nice way).

Interesting...an individual from this company contacted me recently about advertising.

I am quite displeased about this new turn of events.

i know by saying this is hard to believe just on my word. but i cant argue with everyone if noone is going to believe me. maybe you won't like this and maybe you won't believe it, but i am not spam in any sense at all. i'm just an average guy who found a place to ask questions. just because i am a first time user and have no history of blogging on this website, doesn't mean i'm a fraud. i'm in shock how you all come to such a quick conclusion without even asking me. and as for my brother Peter who is in the same boat as me as we are researching this information, he isn't a fraud too. It's not a coincidence that we both posted on the same day as first-timers. Quite the contrary, we did it on purpose to maybe get some answers. But as i was rudely welcomed here i am still looking for answers and in disbelief that the welcoming committee here wasn't more friendly. I understand that you are all on the look-out for potential spammers, and i couldn't agree any more, but to jump to quick conclusions is just morally wrong.

Chad (still a hopeful timeshare owner)

bottom line: is anyone going to tell me what "intellifares" is all about? i'd appreciate if you could.

Chad,

Gregs's following reply says it all. This is not a good idea. Giving someone your money with the hope that they will deliver airfare in the future is not a reasonable idea!!

aliikai2 said:

the problem would be trusting that this company that you are giving $$$ to will be here to furnish you the next 5 years worth of air tixs. I wouldn't want to give any airline 5 years advance funds, let alone a stand alone company.

Also most timeshares aren't going to be fixed weeks in the same location , most are floating, or if fixed used to trade to other areas, so even though we have a pretty good idea of where were going for the next 2 to 3 years, we can't make reservations until 12 to 18 months in advance, making a 5 year commitment unworkable.

Jmho, Greg

Click to expand...

If you any questions about Timeshares or Travel we'd be happy to help but intellifares is a rip off!!

Chad

I have no idea what intellifares is...but I would urge you caution with this type of program.

I was the moderator that sent you a "friendly warning" about your posts.

Unfortunatly, your initial posts fell into a gray category that raised some eyebrows. We have been atttacked in the past (as recently as a few hours before your post) because some spammers are trying to abuse this wonderful forum and BBS.

I immediatly locked and froze the "proven spammer" because he (or she) posted an obvious ads for their products.

I did not block your thread or even freeze your account as I felt that you posts were not "obvious spam".

If you had a higher post count...nobody would have even called you out...unfortunately the bad users ruin it for the good users.

Hopefully you will feel more welcome here in the future....and sorry of there were any misunderstandings.

Perhaps we were wrong...however it is odd that your title says you are interested in timeshares....yet your first post was two paragraphs without mentioning one thing about timeshares...instead asking about this new organization that conveniently contacted me last week about advertising.

Not to mention if you were looking to find information about said group and were recommended to them by your travel agent...why wouldnt you simply go to their website for information?

I am not one to block someone or give them a bad experience...but this is quite an extrordinary coincidence IMO.

as i mentioned earlier (in the now deleted post), i went to the website. and like others, saw the international number. i was confused and heard i can ask people about anything timeshare related (even the travel) on certain websites where people know all about everything. hence, i came on here and asked if anyone heard of intellifares.
this travel agent that told me they have an exclusive to selling this intellifare recommended me to the site, however i didnt understand this new concept of future travel. so i came here looking for answers. apparently, not too many people here know about it either.
and as i said earlier - interested in becoming a timeshare owner. meaning i'm doing research on the actual timeshares, the weeks of the year, the locations, and the travel. so my title of new guy with interest in timeshare is relevant to my asking about this intellifares.com website

chad

thank you streamboat bill for understanding and for ur wishings on my future here as a blogger.
and i understand ur caution in singling out those spammers. it is important on these type of websites.

Fair enough....I apologize.

Chad said:

as i mentioned earlier (in the now deleted post), i went to the website. and like others, saw the international number. i was confused and heard i can ask people about anything timeshare related (even the travel) on certain websites where people know all about everything. hence, i came on here and asked if anyone heard of intellifares.
this travel agent that told me they have an exclusive to selling this intellifare recommended me to the site, however i didnt understand this new concept of future travel. so i came here looking for answers. apparently, not too many people here know about it either.
and as i said earlier - interested in becoming a timeshare owner. meaning i'm doing research on the actual timeshares, the weeks of the year, the locations, and the travel. so my title of new guy with interest in timeshare is relevant to my asking about this intellifares.com website

chad

Click to expand...

Have you done google search on that company? or look at their website?

It is very small company, just start up. I went to their website, it just a concept. It does not try to sell infront or put enough info, it just try to collect your info. I will put this close to black box selling, or spam selling. Does not look like they have any major airline actually back them up.

They did sign with UBS, which does not say too much what that will do, very likely, you transfer money there and goes to their pocket. The same good strong bank backed is used in all kind of mail spam also.

Since they don't try to sell infront, I doubt anyone should/would joint in. At this moment, I don't think they have any major airline signed up. So with no comfirmed airline, just a bank account that allow you to put money in, you can draw any conclusion.

You can and probably better to wait 3 years, see what their acutally sell and what the price they can offer you.

Jya-Ning

Intellifares

To the board

I would like to make myself available to anyone with questions surrounding the Intellifares product. I am not here to advertise but to clear up any confusion or to answer any questions about the product. I am the EVP of the company and can assure the board that we are not in any way a scam. Our partner is UBS and we deal with only reputable banks and persons in the travel industry. I was in charge of running the yield department of Club Med/NA for many years and have worked around the industry for about 20+ yrs. Believe me if there is a scam out there I have seen it. Bottom line. We came up with a way to save people money on air tickets and to put some money back into the hands of travel agents at the same time. You will see the product being offered by a lot of the major timeshare developers in the next months. As the product gets more exposure it will be adopted by more consumers. But ask me any questions that you have and I will answer them.

Rae Hanneman

Isn't Club Med now out of business? What happened to them?

rhanneman said:

To the board

I would like to make myself available to anyone with questions surrounding the Intellifares product. I am not here to advertise but to clear up any confusion or to answer any questions about the product. I am the EVP of the company and can assure the board that we are not in any way a scam. . . . . But ask me any questions that you have and I will answer them.

Rae Hanneman

Click to expand...

Maybe you could address this article?:
SunTrips Owner Comes Up With New Scheme

The new owners of SunTrips, the tour operator that owes agents an estimated $875,000 in unpaid commissions, reported an $11-million loss for its fiscal year ending on July 31, but immediately announced a new scheme called IntelliFares, which offers travelers five years of air travel for a fixed price paid upfront.

Crystal International Travel Group, which purchased SunTrips from bankrupt One Travel Holdings of Atlanta, reported to the SEC that it lost $11,027,335 for the 12 months ended on July 31 compared to a $970,881 loss at the end of the period in 2005. It also reported that as of July 31, current assets were $183,128 and current liabilities were $2,717,772.

‘Substantial Doubt’

“Scharf Pera & Co., PLLC, our independent auditors, have expressed substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern given our recurring losses from operations, negative working capital and net stockholder’s deficit. This opinion could materially limit our ability to raise additional funds by issuing new debt or equity securities or otherwise,” Crystal reported to the SEC.

It blames its losses on the previous owner of SunTrips.
. . . .

A group of affected agents has filed a class action lawsuit in San Jose, CA against SunTrips’ former owner over the unpaid commissions. "

Two good questions.

First, Club Med is still in business. Worldwide they still maintain and operate [I believe] 70+ hotels. Based upon articles I have seen in the trades, they have scaled down their US operations a little and focus mainly in Europe and Asia.

Secondly, Crystal International, our parent company entered into a transaction to purchase the Intellectual property of SunTrips. The deal was a mess. We lost a lot of money. Their are plenty of reasons but suffice it to say the deal did not end up where we thought it would and we were forced to abandon that operation.

Crystal International is a startup and the losses from that operation were reflected in our financial and our audittors responded by issuing the opinion. It was accurate at the time. Obviously we are still operating 7 months after that opinion was generated so we have raised sufficient funds to continue our operations.

Our partners in this operation, primarily UBS, all did due diligence to ascertain whether or not they wanted to be partner with us. They have all been satisfied as to the financial abilty of the company. Further, so as to protect the fund that Intellifares monies are held in, we voluntarily entered into a strict agreement with UBS and appointed independent directors who were tasked with the responsibility of making sure the funds in our account, which are for the purchase of air tickets for our customers, are only used for that purpose.

So we have taken appropriate steps to safeguard customer funds and to segregate them from any risk associated with the business.

I hope that this addresses the concerns raised.

Look forward to any other questions that may come.

BTW the parent company Web site is www.CrystalITG.com if you would like more infomration on our officers and directors.

Rae Hanneman

Rae:

You need to understand that many of the members here feel they have been 'taken' by many timeshare developers and sales staff who work for them.

So....many of us are a kind of untrusting lot. Many here like the concept, but are also super dealers now in finding air fares.....espically when using points from various travel reward programs....and they do squeeze the towel*...(At least the smartest ones, who are not afraid (and do) share their 'methods' with the rest of us.

I was reading the website. Parts of it don't seem to be working, like when I clicked the distributer lists. I did come up with some questions....

Why does the 'customer' have to buy from a 'distributer'? (and not direct?)

Does the 'distributer' have to pay the company a fee to become one?

If a fee is charged, does the $$ go to the company, or to the managers above, in his chain of command? If he recruites, does he get part of the new distributers fees?

Is the 'distributer' a licensed travel agent? Why or Why not ?

If someone pays for the card, the website says the $$ is held by a bank (USB). Is that money in an escrow type account that would be avalible to the card purchaser if something happens to the company? (I noted that 5% would be held for fees.... but under what circumstances would the money be paid back to the member?

Where is UBS ?

On the website, there is a statement:


"...Remember, we take the risk. If we are wrong and the going rate for your airline ticket goes up, that's our problem...not yours..."

Is that the only risk you will take? What about the risk of the company not quite succeeding? Will UBS give back the funds to the members for unused tickets (less the 5% of course)

* At this very moment, I have sales in my e mail lists from several airline companies...no...not the big ones. A few weeks ago, there was the five cent fare from Spirit Air (Today it was a $39.00 fare to many places)

An example of how tight the towel can be rung....

A major hotel chain has offered travel points (these are not timeshare points like from RCI or Blue Green) on there websites for one penny each.

A round trip tix for two to some places in Europe, and some islands is offered for approx 150,000 of these points. That includes a stay in one of their hotels for a full week. Some are able to fly anywhere in the word there is one of their hotels (5 star) for about 200,000 to 250,000 travel points. But these points are also earned via hotel stays, using an affinity card, and other ways. It just seems if we put in time to search things out, we can do very well.

If the figures are off....another Tugger will correct me.



Thanks for your time in giving us members some information, and for offering your services to answer questions. I hope your new company does very well. It probably will. Keep the prices low!

Thanks for your reply,

Obviously Timeshare people are value shoppers and know how to find a bargain. Our product is a long term product. We start at a price point that is about 10% below market and then we fix that price for five years. Now you may be able to shop every year and some years you will beat our price and some years you won't. So it is really a question of whether you want to take the risk. Since we offer to apply your Intellifare against discount tickets if you want to fly on a discount ticket, you really can still do the shopping and take advantage of both markets.

THe funds are voluntarily placed into a restricted account at UBS. The account is managed by several directors. The rules are that investments must be placed in bonds and financial instruments carrying a financial rating of 'A' or better. UBS is one of the largest banks in the world and has offices in most major cities.

We are not from the timeshare industry. Our backgrounds are from other industries that do not have the same stigma, i.e. banking.

We made a decision to sell through distributors. The product is designed to help the travel industry on the whole to earn revenue share, so in our pricing we have a 5% revenue share for the travel person who sold the product. We believe that customers are better served when they deal with people who live in their local area, not with call centers in India. But any payments associated with distributors is already built into the price.

BTW those deals that you mentioned sound pretty good. But deals like that are only available in limited quantities. We are trying to make an offer to the whole market. Rewards programs, if you analyze their effect on the underlying business, add unserviceable debt to companies. Continental adds about 300MM in debt to there books every years because of there Miles programs. They would have to fly their fleet free for about six months if everyone redeemed today. American is even worse. And they can cancel the programs anytime. Believe me sooner or later they will. So take advantage while they are still around. We offer a fixed, long term solution. We eliminate the hassle and the worry. And we do it at a price point that is attractive. So we believe that people will buy.

Thanks again for your reply and feel free to continue to raise concerns as they come. I actually love answering these posts. I have never done a bulletain board before and find this one to be very social and pleasant.

Look forward to hearing more from the board.

Rae

1 Question and 1 suggestion to the Moderator

Question:

What is the boundary between the ad and info exchange? I like to see travel company's EVP make himselves available to answer customer's question to show their willing to reach their potential customers, I also know this board forbid the AD like post, so where is the boundary?

Suggestion:

Now after the company EVP come out, since this company is more toward airline ticket, should it be better to put it to travel info?

Jya-Ning